Washington, D.C. – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released All About Pork:  The Abuse of Earmarks and the Needed Reforms. 

On April 5, CAGW released the 2006 Congressional Pig Book, a compilation of all the pork projects in the federal budget.  All About Pork explains the Pig Book in the context of recent lobbying scandals and current reform efforts on Capitol Hill.  The report explains the history and definition of pork-barrel spending, the budget process, the scandals related to earmarks and lobbying, and the reforms that are necessary to cut down on waste and abuse.   

A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that “among all Americans, a 39 percent plurality say the single most important thing for Congress to accomplish this year is curtailing budgetary ‘earmarks’ benefiting only certain constituents.”

“Pork is a bigger problem than most people realize,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “As Congress debates earmark reform, taxpayers must be informed about all the ways in which pork corrupts the political process.” 

The report, written by Tom Finnigan, media manager for CAGW, is available at www.cagw.org.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.